


this one might be a battle, might not turn out okay

by reachedthebitterend



Series: truth serum-ish [1]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, basically Maria and Alex have it out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 04:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20203822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/pseuds/reachedthebitterend
Summary: The human squad gets dosed with a serum that makes them blurt out every thought that comes into their head.





	this one might be a battle, might not turn out okay

**Author's Note:**

> written 07/03/19

Michael doesn’t know exactly what to expect when he enters Liz’s lab, but it wasn’t to find Liz and Maria yelling at each other about Liz knowing that Max had healing powers and not saying anything when Maria’s mother was getting worse.

His eyes dart to the other side of the room where Kyle seems to be talking up a steady stream, while Alex nods his head, acting like he’s listening, but he’s actually putting all of the glass lab equipment in order by height, which he knows Michael hates and checking his phone every few minutes.

Michael lets the door close behind himself with a slam that makes them all jump and turn to face him.

Alex is the only one who doesn’t look surprised to see him, but he wouldn’t since he was the one to text Michael to come to the lab.

“Everything okay?” He asks and looks over the lab again, and notices the broken glassware on top of the lab table.

“We may have had a small mishap with the power enhancement serum,” Liz starts.

Alex snorts, “Yeah, if you call dousing us all with a serum that makes it impossible to keep any thought in your head, then yeah, we had a small mishap.”

“Have I mentioned that your ass looks amazing in those jeans?” Kyle says from where he’s leaning against the sink, watching Alex’s ass.

“Yes,” Alex says and widens his eyes at Michael, telegraphing, please help me. “Five times.”

“No homo, though,” Kyle and Alex say at the same time. “Not that there is anything wrong with that.”

Michael really doesn’t know what to say to that.

Someone tugs on his arm, and he turns to Maria, who smiles at him, wide and sweet and says. “What are you doing up? You said you needed to rest?”

Alex snorts again, but before he can say anything, Isobel’s voice comes from the other door that leads to the lab.

“Where the hell have you been?” Isobel says, walking forward with her phone, being followed by Rosa who looks way too amused. “I’ve been calling you for half an hour.”

“He was resting,” Maria says, standing in front of Michael and cutting Isobel off.

Isobel opens her mouth, but Alex starts speaking, much to Michael’s dismay.

“He was attempting to take a nap at the Wild Pony because it’s the only place where you won’t go looking for him, but like usual, he couldn’t fall asleep.”

Maria narrows her eyes at Alex while Isobel narrows her eyes at Michael. “If you couldn’t sleep then why didn’t you answer my call, and how did you know that there was a problem?”

Michael opens his mouth to answer, but of course, Alex does instead.

“I texted him.”

Everyone turns to Alex, who is looking down at his phone, tapping something out, and then he looks up at them as Michael’s phone dings with a text message.

Michael isn’t stupid enough to check his phone, right now, especially when Maria narrows her eyes even more.

“Of course you answer the phone for _him_,” Isobel says turning back to Michael and crossing her arms over her chest.

“You need to leave Michael alone,” Maria says, and she takes a step closer to the side of the room Alex is in. “How is he supposed to move on when you won’t leave him alone?”

Alex’s gaze drops from Michael to Maria, and Michael feels properly scared for the first time since he walked into the room.

“Maybe we should all just stop talking until we figure out-”

“Because I forced him to come here,” Alex says interrupting him. “All I did was tell him to come to the lab as soon as he could. It’s not my fault that he got here exactly ten minutes after I sent the message.”

Michael tries to intervene again, but both Alex and Maria ignore him.

“And move on where? To _you_? Don’t you think if it was going to happen it would’ve already?”

Maria takes a step forward, eyes glinting dangerously.

“Of course it hasn’t happened! You don’t let him breathe! You’re always around! Calling after him, asking about him, taking him with you on secret missions under the excuse that you need an alien, when all you want is to monopolize his free time!”

“I tried to give him space!” Alex snaps, looking at Maria with the perfect soldier mask. “It’s not my fault that Max is incapable of letting go of the past!”

And then he turns to Rosa, “Not that I wouldn’t want you back, you’re the only person in this room who hasn’t hurt me.”

Liz makes a noise in protest, while Kyle takes a step forward, mouth open, but Maria cuts them both off.

“You can’t blame Max almost _dying _for the fact that you won’t leave Michael alone!”

“Yes, because I forced him to come over to my cabin when he needs someplace safe to fall apart!”

“That’s why he goes to the Pony!” Maria snaps taking another step towards Alex.

Alex laughs, and it sounds humorless and cruel. “He goes to the Pony because it’s the _only _place he can avoid Isobel!”

Maria shakes her head, but she doesn’t look at Michael, which is good, because Michael isn’t one hundred percent sure what he would tell her if she asked him if it was true. 

Because Alex was partially right, but not completely, but Maria was wrong. He never goes to the Pony when he needs a safe place to fall apart, because Alex is the only person he trusts to put him back together with no expectations.

“Yes,” Maria says scoffing and taking another step towards Alex, avoiding Michael when he tries to put his hand out to stop her. “Because that’s the only reason he keeps coming back to my bar year after year. It has _nothing _to do with me at all.”

“Of course it’s all about you,” Alex says and rolls his eyes. “Because there are plenty of other bars in town that keep letting him back in after he gets kicked out for being drunk and disorderly and trade his tab for manual labor.”

“That is _not _why he keeps coming around!”

“I didn’t say that,” Alex says. “I have no doubt that he likes you. He wouldn’t have slept with you if he didn’t. All I’m saying is that he’s not going to the bar because he wants peace and quiet.”

“Then why does he keep coming in the mornings to play the guitar?”

Alex’s eyes flash, and Michael tries to get in the middle again, but this time Isobel drags him back. He looks up at her and she’s looking from Alex to Maria with amusement. Well, at least someone is enjoying this.

“Because he doesn’t own his own guitar?” Alex asks sarcastically, and smiles, and his teeth look too sharp. “If the Pony instills such peace and quiet within him then why does he spend almost every night in my bed?”

Maria inhales sharply, and her eyes dart to Michael, who can’t even look at her, because while they hadn’t talked about what was going on between them, too many things getting in the way of the conversation, he hadn’t exactly killed the hope that something could happen.

But it’s not like he does anything but sleep when he collapses on Alex’s bed and passes out.

And it’s not like he’s ready to be in a relationship with anyone anyway.

He wishes that he could find a way to say the words, but before he can find it, Maria is speaking again.

“Yes, because he came to me in the first place because being with you is so _peaceful_.”

“No,” Alex says, and his mask cracks, and Michael moves to take a step forward, but Isobel holds him tight. “He went to you because I pushed him away.”

“Exactly!” Maria says and she’s now right in Alex’s face, and Michael can hear the pleading tone to her voice. “You pushed him away! So you can’t be mad that he wants to try something with me now! We deserve to have a chance!”

“You had ten years to give it a chance!” Alex yells, and Maria moves back startled. “I was gone! For ten years! Ten years where you had all the time you could ever need to get him out of your system so why didn’t you!?”

Maria opens and closes her mouth a few times, but can’t seem to speak, and Michael thinks that this might be a great time to break this all up, when Rosa speaks.

“It’s because he’s a loser,” she says and rolls her eyes at them all when they turn to her. “What? It might be ten years but I know Maria, and she never gave him a chance before because he was a drunk, who was always getting arrested, and doesn’t have an actual job, and who flirted with everything that moved, in other words, a Chad. The only reason she’s falling for him now is because she realized she can be vulnerable around him, and he won’t use it against her, and he stopped with the drinking too much and the getting into fights and flirting with everything that moved. I still don’t think he has an actual job, but that’s my personal opinion.”

“Yeah,” Alex says swallowing hard. “I wonder what the catalyst for that change in behaviour was.”

“You can’t take credit for Michael turning a new leaf,” Maria snaps, getting angry again.

“He hasn’t turned anything! Michael is the same as he always has been! Sorry that you were too blinded by your own prejudices to see that!”

“You’re talking to _me _about prejudices?”

“You’re _not _the only person in this room who was hated for something that they can’t control!”

“Okay,” Liz interrupts, stepping in the small space between Alex and Maria. “I think it’s getting worse-”

“No,” Kyle says interrupting her. “I think that those of us who are more repressed about certain things are having a harder time keeping their mouths shut. Notice that they didn’t start fighting about Guerin until he got here.”

“We’re not fighting about Guerin,” Maria snaps looking uncomfortable for the first time since this all started.

“Yeah,” Alex says, and Michael can tell that this is about to get worse. “Fighting implies that both sides have an equal chance at winning.”

“_Carajo_,” Rosa says under her breathe while Isobel whistles, impressed.

Maria is looking at Alex like she can’t believe that he just said that, and Liz is looking at Alex like she can’t believe he just said that, and Kyle is looking up at the ceiling muttering under his breath.

Alex is looking right at Michael, eyes wide and scared like _he _can’t believe he just said that.

“Okay,” Maria says and her voice is hard and cold. “Tell me how you really feel.”

She looks at Alex intently, and Alex’s gaze snaps to her, and the mask falls over his face again.

“Okay,” he says voice soft, but commanding. “You know, I knew you were lying when you said that it meant nothing, that it was a drunk, dusty, no good, Texas rounder. I knew that if Michael asked, you would jump, but I stupidly thought that you would at least have the decency to tell me before you decided to throw our friendship away and start something with the only man I have ever been in love with, especially when you _knew _how I felt.”

“He told me that things between the two of you were long over,” Maria says, and her voice cracks, and Michael sees Liz moving close, wrapping a hand around her wrist and standing right next to her, both of them opposite of Alex, who doesn’t look away from Maria, not even when the hurt seeps into his eyes at her comment.

“Because he didn’t want you to feel guilty about what happened. Because technically we were never in a relationship. Because I had pushed him away because I was scared that my father would hurt him again, and then after because I’d just found out that he was an alien, and that he kept that from me even after I let him co-”

Alex cuts himself off, putting a hand over his mouth, and closing his eyes tight before he tears his hand away from his mouth and looks at Maria again.

“And that is all besides the point, it doesn’t matter what he said, you should’ve come talk to me before you decided to be selfish for once in your life.”

Maria doesn’t say anything, but Michael can see the way that she shudders. 

“You can’t blame her for that!” Liz snaps taking a step forward. “She can’t control the way that she feels anymore than you can!”

“I don’t blame her for that!” Alex snaps eyes dropping to Liz. “It would be hypocritical of me to blame her for something she can’t control!”

“Then why are you doing this?” Liz asks brow furrowed. “Because Maria is right, you do monopolize all the free time that Michael has, how is Michael supposed to move on from you, if you don’t leave him alone?”

Alex laughs, humorless and a little painful, “Yes, because you would be sitting around doing nothing if it was Max that she wanted.”

Liz takes a step back, face frozen in shock as though she hadn’t thought about it that way.

Maria makes a noise at the back of her throat, “I would _never _do that to Liz!”

The room falls completely silent as Alex laughs again, and this time it comes out sounding like a sob.

Isobel lets Michael go, but Michael can’t move, he can’t _think_, he can’t _breathe_.

“You don’t think I know that,” he starts voice shaking.

“Alex,” Maria starts sounding guilty. “I didn’t-”

“I’m not stupid,” Alex continues. “I know you love me because you felt you had to because your mom told you to be nice to the boy whose dad regularly beats him black and blue for something he can’t control.”

“Alex,” she says again, but Alex talks over her.

“I know it doesn’t mean much now, but you both were my family, until I found a boy who made me feel like I’d finally found my place here in Roswell, and then I had to leave because I _couldn’t _protect him, and then I came back expecting him to be long gone, but there he was, looking at me like no time had passed and making me feel like I’d found my way home again. It’s funny, that _you _were the person who encouraged me to speak to him again because I had decided that putting him back on my father’s radar wasn’t worth how much I wanted him to kiss me again.”

“Alex,” she says one more time, sounding like she’s on the verge of tears.

“And I know I walked away,” and he looks up at Michael as he says that, and Michael can’t stop himself from taking an involuntary step forward at the look on Alex’s face. “But I’m never doing that again. You’re the only thing in this whole world that I consider mine, and I’m not going to give you up easily.”

Then his gaze drops back to Maria, who is still looking at him. “Even if it means hurting you. You say that you deserve a chance. Well so do I.”

And then he moves, walking around Maria, who collapses into Liz, who wraps an arm around her and pulls her in tight while looking over her shoulder at Alex as he leaves like she wants to follow him as well.

Alex sidesteps Michael, and doesn’t look him in the face as he passes.

Michael can’t stop himself from reaching out and stopping his movements with a hand wrapped around his wrist.

He inhales deeply, wanting, _needing _to say something, _anything_.

Alex stops moving for just a second, and tugs his hand away from Michael, fingers brushing against Michael’s palm and sending shudders through him. 

“Read your text message, Guerin,” he says and then he walks out of the room.

Kyle goes after him, and Michael really doesn’t know how to feel about that, but he tugs his phone out of his pocket while Isobel claps her hands once.

“Well, that was informational, don’t you think?”

Michael can feel Rosa rolling her eyes. 

“_Pendeja_,” she says as she walks over to where Liz is trying to calm Maria down.

Michael watches them before he looks down at the phone in his hand as Isobel starts sputtering after Rosa. “I resent that!”

He opens up the message from Alex, and swallows hard.

_Before things get out of hand, I just want you to know that I love you no matter what you do._

“You should go.”

Michael looks up to see Liz looking at him with hard eyes. “If you love him, like Max loves me, then what are you still doing here?”

Maria makes a noise, and Michael’s eyes snap to her.

She shakes her head at him, and looks away, dropping her face to Rosa’s shoulder. Isobel looks entirely out of place as she gently pats Maria’s back, but the look she gives him tells him that she’ll take care of them all if he goes.

“Leave,” Liz says and this time it’s a little more forceful.

Michael swallows again and nods his head, before he turns and leaves, squeezing his phone in his hands.


End file.
